Kate Hinds

Top stories on TN:
PHOTOS: One of World’s Great Toy Train Collections Chugs Into NY Museum (link)
New Yorkers Believe Climate Change Caused Hurricane Sandy: Poll (link)

(photo by Kevin Kovaleski/DDOTDC via flickr)

How did New York City's coastline become a place to put the poor and vulnerable? "Largely because Robert Moses wanted it there." (New York Times)

In Rajasthan, there were 9,232 accident deaths reported in the state in 2011. Of that number, 895 were pedestrians. And of that number, pedestrians were at fault in 27 cases. (Times of India)

After the post-Sandy success of the 'bus bridge from Brooklyn,' New York's MTA is talking about express bus service from Brooklyn to LaGuardia Airport. (Capital NY)

D.C.’s long-planned expansion of Capital Bikeshare this fall has hit a snag because the city has been unable to get all of the needed equipment from its supplier. (Washington Post)

A special tax district to fund a streetcar in downtown L.A. has won, with voters approving $62.5 million in local funding. (KCET)

Thick fog, a chain-reaction of crashes and speed led to a 95-car Thanksgiving Day pileup on a Texas highway. (Houston Chronicle)

U.S. consumers bought new cars and trucks at the fastest pace in nearly five years in November as low interest rates and the need to replace Sandy-damaged cars drew people into showrooms. (Detroit Free Press)

NYC's DOT issued its first intercity bus permit in Chinatown to YO!, a bus line owned jointly by Peter Pan and Greyhound, for curbside pick-ups. (Crain's New York)

A day after the Port Authority hiked cash tolls at its bridges and tunnels to $13, a watchdog group says its most senior cops are paid an average of $83.99 an hour — "dwarfing the $58.86 earned by their counterparts at the NYPD." (New York Daily News)

Opinion: More than a month after superstorm Sandy damaged more than 300 NJ Transit coach cars and locomotives, New Jerseyans still don't have answers as to why the agency put its rolling stock in a flood zone. (The Record)

Three motorists who incurred $50 red-light camera tickets are filing a class-action suit against New York City. (New York Post)

The U.N. is holding its first climate change meeting in the Persian Gulf, and "the oil-rich location is bound to spur discussion on fossil fuels." (Marketplace)

Seven facts about cycling, including this one: a bicycle can stay upright without a rider as long as it's moving at about 8 mph or faster. (Popular Mechanics)

Listen to this 1904 song about riding the subway, which was viewed as quite the romantic escape. "If married and home is unhappy, you can now hide away from your wife." (Gothamist)

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Areas of Long Island, N.Y. following Hurricane Sandy Oct. 30, 2012. (Photo by U.S. Coast Guard / Petty Officer 2nd Class Rob Simpson)

Most New Yorkers say climate change is the reason for severe storms like Hurricane Sandy.

According to a recent Siena poll, at least 63 percent of voters from across the state -- including two-thirds of upstate residents and three-quarters of those in New York City – say severe storms over the last two years demonstrate the existence of global climate change.

"There may be a debate about what has caused the global climate change," says Siena pollster Steven Greenberg, "but for most New Yorkers there is no debate that it is occurring.”

That mirrors national numbers. In a pre-Sandy poll conducted in October by the Pew Research Center, 67 percent of respondents said they believed in global warming.

But the issue reveals a stark partisan divide. In the Siena poll, eight in ten Democrats say severe storms demonstrated climate change -- whereas Republicans are nearly evenly divided, with 46 percent saying climate change is behind big storms and 44 percent calling them isolated weather events. The Pew poll found similar national numbers.

(Two New Yorkers who believe in climate change: Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The latter said it was the prime force behind his endorsement of  President Obama for reelection. And the governor is likely to be talking about it as he makes the rounds in D.C. to push for disaster aid.)

But as politicians, these two are outliers. Neither Obama nor Republican Mitt Romney mentioned climate change during the presidential debates. A Frontline documentary that aired in October provides some thoughts as to why: climate skeptics have worked hard to introduce doubt into the conversation surrounding the climate change debate -- successfully making it a partisan issue.

Watch Climate of Doubt on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Top stories on TN:
R Train To Go Further South in Manhattan, But Not Crossing To Brooklyn — Yet (link)
Lights Out for NYC Taxi “Off Duty” Lights (link)
Tolls Going Up Again On NY-NJ Port Authority Crossings Despite AAA Lawsuit (link)
How Much to Fine? D.C. Wrestles with Cash Cow of Red Light Cameras (link)
NY/NJ Port Official: We Never Thought We’d See 13-Foot Storm Surge (link)
Taxi Documentary Delivers Cabbie Grit and Wisdom (VIDEO) (link)

Metro escalator (photo by Jonathan Wilson/WAMU)

San Francisco's transit agency, Muni, is considering basing some transit fares on a customer's ability to pay. (San Francisco Examiner)

Nine people were killed in Japan when concrete ceiling slabs fell from the roof of a highway tunnel onto moving vehicles below. (AP via USA Today)

Talks to end the six-day strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have yet to be fruitful. (Los Angeles Times)

The new escalators installed this fall at DC's Dupont Circle Metro station have experienced 20 outages in their first 40 days. (Washington Examiner)

Hearing alert: Lawmakers in the House and Senate will review Hurricane Sandy's impact on northeast U.S. transportation systems this week. (The Hill)

Maryland transportation officials are setting less ambitious goals after failing to significantly reduce pedestrian deaths in the state. (AP via Washington Post)

In Britain, women drivers are about to outstrip men for the first time. (Telegraph)

Delta may be bidding for a stake in Virgin Atlantic. (Marketplace)

Introducing: the Lincoln Motor Co. (Detroit Free Press)

Berlin's yet-to-open new airport is plagued by delays, cost overruns, and now a lawsuit from one airline. (NPR)

The battle between taxi hail app Uber and city governments underscores the tension between lawmakers and technology companies at a time when Web sites and mobile apps can outmaneuver old rules. (New York Times)

Opinion: New York should put its tech-friendly money where its mouth is and embrace e-hail apps. (New York Daily News)

Boston's bike share program has performed 50% better than expected, and may remain open for winter next year. (Boston Globe)

More of the NYC hurricane recovery subway map will be shaded in on Monday morning at 6am (click for large version)

New York's R train -- which hasn't gone south of 34th Street since Hurricane Sandy -- will make it as far south as Whitehall Street beginning Monday morning.

In an email, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said “the resumption of service to the Whitehall Street station will restore a vital link to midtown’s west side for Staten Islanders and also ease crowding along the Lexington Avenue Line."

The Whitehall station is located near the ferry terminal. The South Ferry #1 station, which was completely flooded during the storm, is still being repaired. The MTA has ballparked the cost of restoring both stations at $600 million.

Cuomo's email called the restoration of service a "herculean task" that required "repairing and replacing track, third rail, communications systems, pumping equipment, electrical feeds and controls."

But straphangers planning to exit at Whitehall could be working out their quadriceps. According to the MTA: "Customers should be aware that only one escalator at this deep station, leading from a landing above the platform to the mezzanine located at the south end of the station nearest the ferry terminal entrance, will be in operation. The escalator at the north end of the station (Stone Street entrance) had previously been removed from service for replacement and remains out. The two escalators at the southern end sustained extensive damage in the wake of the storm but one has been restored to service. We urge anyone who has difficulty climbing stairs to consider using the Rector Street station instead. "

The Montague Tube, the tunnel which carries R trains between lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, was flooded during the storm and is still being repaired. Service on the R between the two boroughs is expected by late December.

Want to watch subway service return, post-Sandy? Check out this GIF.

Top stories on TN:
At L.A. Auto Show, a Big Star Is a Gas-Powered Engine (AUDIO) (link)
Hurricane Sandy was “Largest Mass Transit Disaster in our Nation’s History,” Says Senator (link)
Lights Out for NYC Taxi “Off Duty” Lights (link)
Prediction: D.C. Area Highway and Transit Crowding Will Get Worse (link)

NYC subway car, 1973 (photo by Erik Calonius/EPA/Documerica via flickr)

In Miami, residents spend 72% of their income on housing and transportation. In New York, it's 56%. (Atlantic Cities)

To fund transportation, Minnesota's governor wants to raise taxes by $20 billion over 20 years. (Star Tribune)

Michigan took its first step towards creating a regional transit authority -- which, if successful, could open the door to federal transit funding. (Mlive)

A transportation ballot measure in Northern California -- initially thought to have failed -- is getting a recount. (KQED)

Two Green Line trolley cars either collided (Boston Globe) or bumped (WBUR) in Boston, causing minor injuries in three dozen people.

NJ Transit was enjoying its second-best summer of ridership and was on pace to shatter its annual rail on-time performance record...and then Hurricane Sandy happened. (Star Ledger)

A commission ordered by Gov. Cuomo to investigate power companies after Sandy wants to know if the utilities responded fast enough to outages that affected public transportation. (NY Post)

Metro may have to spend millions more than anticipated to operate the new Silver Line because trains will have to travel farther east than planned. (Washington Post)

How bad is traffic in Brazil? In one city, it's $20 billion worth of bad: "Wasted time and fuel consumed in traffic congestion cost the economy of São Paulo nearly US $20bn in 2008, about 10% of its GDP." (Economist Intelligence Unit)

Profile: Joe Lhota, the New York MTA's wartime chairman. (Capital NY) (Note: we know from personal experience that the chairman loves him some Godfather.)

VIDEO: an Ohio sinkhole so big that the BBC covered it.

In 1971, the EPA hired photographers as part of "Documerica" -- an effort to "provide a comprehensive visual record of the country’s turbulent landscape during the 1970s." These are their NYC subway stories. (Narratively)

Snapped catenary poles on NJ Transit's Gladstone line (photo courtesy of NJ Transit)

At an emotional hearing today before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, senators representing storm-damaged states described the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said his state was the "epicenter" of the storm. He listed Sandy's toll upon New Jersey -- 39 dead, 231,000 homes and businesses damaged. And included in his list: the impact of the storm upon the region's transit system.

"The storm was the largest mass transit disaster in our nation's history. Four out of 10 of the nation's transit riders had their commutes disrupted by the storm, many still today," said Menendez. "NJ Transit alone had dozens of locomotives and rail cars damaged in the flooding and miles and miles of tracks damaged."

NJ Transit still has a rail line that is not operational, and the Port Authority says it will be weeks before it can restore Hoboken service on its trans-Hudson PATH train line.

New Jersey is requesting $37 billion in federal disaster aid, of which $1.35 billion would go to transit, roads and bridges.

Watch the archived hearing here.

The question of "is that taxi free or not?" could soon be easier to answer in New York. On Thursday, the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission voted to do away with the off-duty lights. Here's a visual:

Whereas once there were two categories of lights, with four combinations:

(photo by magnus via filckr)

The city's Taxi and Limousine Commission voted to just have this -- the medallion number:

(photo "adjusted" by WNYC's Stephen Nessen)

David Yassky, the TLC commissioner, said off-duty taxi lights "are a relic of bygone days" and that the rules change will make the system easier to understand.

"The only purpose it serves today is to confuse the passenger," he said, adding that the TLC hears complaints "all time" about rooftop lights. "Taxi roof lights should be simple.  If it's on, it means you can flag the cab down. If it's off, it's unavailable."

(Only one commissioner voted against the proposal: Iris Weinshall, a former NYC transportation commissioner who was in the news last year for her dislike of the Prospect Park West bike lane.)

Yassky said people hailing cabs don't care about the particulars of the lighting system. "The passenger only cares if the cab is available or not."

He said he hopes the new system will do away with another perennial vexation -- the way some cabbies use the off-duty light to cherry-pick customers. "It's a source of frustration (for passengers)," he said. "Sometimes they see drivers with the off-duty sign on go from person to person asking 'where are you going' and we don't want that to happen."

That's currently possible because the switch controlling the lights is manual. But when the off-duty lights fade away, so will the driver's control over the roof light.

According to the minutes of the May 2012 public hearing on the rules change, the single light roof light would eliminate the manual switch that controls the off-duty light. Instead, it would be controlled automatically and synched with the meter. So when the meter is engaged, the medallion number light will automatically turn off, and when the trip is over, the light will turn back on.

The new rule technically takes effect 30 days after being posted in the city record. But there could still be off duty lights on top of cabs until April, which is the end of the first quarter inspection period.

Top stories on TN:
PATH Officials: Several More Weeks Before Hoboken Service Is Back (link)
NY MTA Takes On Major Debt Rather Than Raise Tolls & Fares To Pay For Sandy (link)
NJ Transit to Begin Testing Gladstone Line on Friday (link)
Data Art: NY Transit System as a Lite-Brite City Map (link)
Chicago Wants to Pay Diesel Truckers to Swap for Electric Vehicles (link)
D.C.: Car U-Turns Through a Bike Lane Are, In Fact, Illegal (link)

Toy trains (image from New York Historical Society's FB page)

BP won't be able to enter into new contracts with the federal government due to its "lack of business integrity." (Marketplace, KUHF)

The Crenshaw rail line promised to right historical wrongs by connecting South Los Angeles to the city’s business hubs: downtown, the airport and Hollywood. Instead, it may bypass the a low-income, minority neighborhood entirely. (New York Times) (For more on this issue, listen to TN's documentary Back of the Bus: Mass Transit, Race and Class)

United's merger with Continental hasn't exactly been smooth -- the airline is losing money and has the worst operational record among the nation’s top 15 airlines. And we haven't even mentioned the computer malfunctions yet. (New York Times)

Democrats and Amtrak officials pushed back against House Republican efforts to eliminate federal subsidies for the national passenger rail service. (The Hill)

And: Amtrak says it is committed to restoring full Long Island Rail Road service "by the Christmas holiday" with repairs to two storm-damaged East River tunnels. (AP via WSJ)

Smith Electric's third American factory will be in Chicago -- a city that just announced a voucher program for truck drivers to make the switch. (NYT)

American motorists are on pace to spend more on gasoline this year ($483 billion, or $1.32 billion a day) than they ever have before. (Los Angeles Times)

After months of publicly defending the work and secretive process of a panel investigating the testing and safety of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the California Department of Transportation agreed to allow greater public scrutiny. (SacBee)

Arlington (VA) is doubling down on Capital Bikeshare (DCist).  And it might get an all-electric taxi fleet. (Washington Post)

Boston's transit agency unveiled an app allowing customers to purchase tickets for commuter boats and rail lines. (WBUR)

Propeller planes -- which use less fuel than jets -- are making a comeback. "And with new technology that cancels most noise and vibration, they won't be your grandfather's turboprop." (NPR)

The people have spoken: America's Transportation Award goes to... Los Angeles's Mulholland Drive Bridge demolition (aka Carmageddon). (FastLane)

A portion of the prized Jerni Collection — vintage toys and trains valued at more than $80 million — is on display at a New York museum for the first time ever. (DNA Info)

Where is the oldest sidewalk in Chicago, and how old is it? Watch and learn. (WBEZ Curious City)

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NJ Transit's rail system recovery map. The faded gray line is the Gladstone Branch. (Click for full version)

NJ Transit says it's in the home stretch of making repairs to one of its hardest-hit rail lines and will begin running test trains on Friday.

“While every NJ TRANSIT rail line sustained damage as a result of Sandy’s wrath, the Gladstone line was particularly hard-hit, with the heavy damage and unique challenges making repairs more timely and more difficult,” said NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein. “I would again thank our customers for their patience and understanding during this difficult time.”

As a result of Hurricane Sandy, five 90-foot catenary (overhead wire) poles snapped and had to be replaced -- as did more than five miles of overhead wiring along the length of the Gladstone Branch.

Crews also removed 49 trees that were on the tracks and are in the process of finalizing repairs to the line’s infrastructure, such as signals and switches.

The agency says Friday's test trains are needed to ensure all of the systems are operating as intended and to remove the rust build-up along the lines.

Until service resumes, the transit agency is running free shuttle bus service to meet Midtown Direct trains and selected Hoboken-bound trains departing Summit. To learn more about the shuttle buses, visit NJ Transit's website.

To see a slideshow of NJ Transit's storm damage, click below.

Top stories on TN:
Build Highways or Increase Transit? Planners Tackle Fort Meade Traffic (link)
Totaling Sandy Losses: How New York’s MTA Got to $5 Billion (link)
How Prop 39 Works: Closing a Tax Loophole To Bring Clean Energy Funds to California (link)

NJ Turnpike, October 28, 2012 (photo by accarrino via flickr)

New York's MTA is exploring using inflatable and expandable devices to seal subway tunnels and prevent the type of flooding that crippled the system during Sandy. (New York Daily News)

Apple fired the manager of its (transitless) Maps application. (New York Times)

Hurricane Sandy has cost the New Jersey Turnpike Authority at least $15.4 million in labor and fuel costs and lost tolls - more than any weather event in the history of the Turnpike and Parkway, officials said. (Star-Ledger)

Congressman John Mica (R-FL) has dropped his bid to remain on as chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, clearing the way for Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA). (Politico)
Meanwhile, the Committee will hold a hearing on Amtrak's "structural reorganization" this morning at 9am; watch it live here.

Who will take over as the Transit Mayor when Michael Bloomberg leaves office in NYC? "It's a role that, for now, remains up for grabs." (Capital NY)

The Federal Aviation Administration will take back $2.1 million in stimulus funds that it gave to San Francisco International Airport because the money was used improperly. (Bay Citizen)

Workers are preparing the Bay Bridge in advance of a storm heading toward California. "Water is the corrosive enemy of the critical single main cable. Much of it has already been wrapped in layers of zinc paste and interlocking S-wire. The rest is now wrapped in plastic." (KGO-TV)

An end to pedicab price gouging? New York's City Council unanimously passed new legislation that will force pedicab drivers to install publicly visible timers and charge by-the-minute fees, instead of by-the-block fares. (DNA Info)

A bus strike by Chinese workers in Singapore is bringing up racial tensions. Like: "These (Chinese) drivers don't deserve the same salary and benefits...many Singaporeans would agree with me that Malaysians drivers are safer drivers." (Reuters)

Officials are looking at how to make Hyderabad's Tank Bund road -- a "virtual death trap" for pedestrians -- safer. (The Hindu)

Direct costs from deaths and injuries due to motorcycle crashes were $16 billion in 2010. (AP via WRAL)

PODCAST: How our brains know how to steer without really knowing how to steer -- and what that means for steering wheel design. (99% Invisible)

San Diego is considering installing protected bike lanes on streets that have bad track records of bicyclist safety. (KPBS)

The long national nightmare of not being able to watch in-flight films from start to finish is finally over for British Airways passengers. (Telegraph)

A Swedish energy company is equipping bus shelters in the town of Umeaa with light therapy panels to help riders fight off winter depression. (Yahoo via Transit Wire)

The Frugal Traveler sings the praises of local transit: "For me, the public transportation system of a new city is a mystery that always brings a surge of feeling of triumph once you figure it out; add to that the peephole on local life that public buses and trams and subways and cable cars can provide in places as diverse as Beirut, Oslo, St. Petersburg and Medellín, and you know why I have a no-taxi policy." (New York Times)

Cab roulette: a recurring series in which a comedian interviews cab drivers about their experiences on the job. (Animal New York)

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It will take $600 million to restore the South Ferry/Whitehall subway stations in lower Manhattan. Returning A train service to the Rockaways will take $650 million. And it will cost $770 million to repair flood-damaged signals in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.

Those are the three big-ticket items on the New York MTA's $5 billion list of damages the agency sustained during the storm surge brought on by Sandy.

On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo -- who is seeking $42 billion in federal disaster aid for the state -- said it would take $4.8 billion just to return the MTA to the condition it was in prior to the hurricane. The discrepancy between the two totals: the MTA's list includes $124 million in lost revenue, as well as $144 million in additional operating expenses.

Some items on the list have already been completed; others will take more time. At Monday's MTA committee meetings, New York City Transit president Tom Prendergast said the South Ferry subway station is months away from re-opening.

An example of the damage sustained at the South Ferry station, which was flooded during Hurricane Sandy.(Photo: MTA New York City Transit / David Henly)

Top stories on TN:
Sandy Data Shows NYC Commuters Are Transpo-Adaptable: Report (link)
NY Gov. Cuomo: It’s Going to Cost $5 Billion To Repair the MTA, Post-Sandy (link)
PHOTOS: Bay Area Artist Yarn Bombs Bike Racks, BART Seats (link)
Restoring Last Parts Of NYC Subway Is The Hardest (link)
Data Dive: Pittsburgh Struggling to Fill Potholes (link)

(Photo by Fringehog/Flickr)

New Jersey's controversial red-light cameras have actually seen an increase in collisions, according to a new state report. (Star-Ledger)

San Jose will allow airport bird shooting. (Mercury News)

Time was, the only thing keeping Chrysler afloat was Fiat. Twist! (Marketplace)

DC is reserving thousands of parking spaces for residents in an effort to prevent visitors from driving in. (Washington Post)

The Port Authority's cloudy, debt-laden future entails spending billions of dollars on transportation assets. "But again, these projects don’t make life better for residents; they just keep things from falling apart." (City Journal)

Amtrak has begun running trains at 110 miles per hour on part of its Chicago-to-St. Louis route. (The Hill)

Some California cities are on board with high-speed rail, but others are taking a wait-and-see approach. (Los Angeles Times)

Community leaders from Chicago's South Side are urging the mayor to move forward on the Red Line extension. (Chicago Tribune)

Meanwhile: Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel says when it comes to transit fare increases, the choice is yours. "You can either drive to work or you can take public transportation." (Chicago Tribune)

A study of more than 500 children said those exposed to high levels of pollution were three times more likely to have autism than children who grew up with cleaner air. (BBC)

For the third time this fall, the Charlotte City Council tried -- and failed -- to reach consensus on how to pay for a streetcar extension. (Charlotte Observer)

Fired car wash workers in the Bronx have been picketing over a labor dispute. (New York Daily News)

Idaho's transportation department makes more than $5.4 million a year selling motor vehicle records and other personal information to companies that use it to research car buying patterns, send out recall notices and even track down scofflaws who don't pay parking tickets given out by private companies. (AP via CBS)

The ten busiest DC Metro stations. (GGW)

How stuff works: a look at the giant underground machinery that pulls San Francisco's cable cars. (Atlantic Cities)

On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo huddled with the state's congressional delegation to go over his federal disaster aid request. "This state has suffered mightily," he said. (Watch the press conference, above.)

As in $42 billion worth of mightily.

Howard Glaser, a senior policy advisor to the governor, broke that figure down at a press conference. The number to restore transit, roads, and bridges, was "very big," he said, and "the big piece there is the MTA."

Glaser said the damage to the transit agency totalled $4.8 billion. "That's damage to the tunnels, to the rail system, to the subway system. This amount of money, the 4.8 (billion), would just restore it to where it was before the storm," he said, adding that "the signal systems in many of the tunnels have to be completely replaced, for example, and that's a lot of money."

(To put that number in perspective, that's about a year's worth of the agency's capital budget.)

At a committee meeting earlier Monday, the MTA tallied up what it said was a "not exhaustive" list of damages -- including flooding to under-river tunnels, subway stations, and track washouts, but didn't include a cost breakdown.

Read New York State's breakdown of Hurricane Sandy recovery needs here.

A yarn-enhanced BART seat

San Francisco public media station KQED interviewed artist Streetcolor, who yarn bombs structures in the Bay Area.

(image courtesy of Streetcolor)

According to the story, "Yarn bombing is an art form involving outdoor installations, covering existing urban objects with yarn, and adding color, coziness, and a handmade touch to urban landscapes."

(image courtesy of Streetcolor)

Read the interview here. And want to yarn bomb a bike rack in San Francisco? Check out dimensions here.

In the days following Hurricane Sandy, when New York's regional transit systems were either completely shut down or barely limping along, commuters still found a way to work -- by biking more, embracing ferries, temporary "bus bridges" and HOV lanes, even leveraging social media to find rides or temporary office space.

According to a new report from New York University's Rudin Center, the storm's aftermath brought out a uniquely New York commuting creativity.

"In many U.S. cities, which are limited to cars, buses or other singular transportation modes," the report states, "the disruption caused by Hurricane Sandy would have, at least temporarily, crippled the economy." Not so in New York, where residents "displayed impressive inventiveness to maintain their mobility. Individuals created new routes and combinations of modes to get to work, using a variety of systems."

The report surveyed 315 commuters about modes of transport and commute times. That's a small sample considering the millions of people affected. And asking a commuter to estimate how long they took to get to work can invite exaggeration, the Rudin report is an impressive attempt to quantify the chaos of ad-hoc mobility choices during the storm.

While almost everyone saw their commutes increase, Staten Islanders fared the worst. For residents of that hard-hit borough, commute times in the days following Sandy nearly tripled.

It was no picnic on the roads, either: "Commute times by private car for survey respondents nearly tripled, from an average of 47 minutes pre-Sandy to an average of 115 minutes post-Sandy."

The report also praises New York's MTA for keeping the public updated about service changes, and recommends the agency maintain its adaptable subway map. But other transit providers don't come off as well: "During the Hurricane, the Port Authority [which operates the PATH train system] and NJ Transit provided remarkably limited information throughout and following the storm about their service."

Read the full report here. See an impressive interactive timeline of Sandy's impact on transportation.

Top stories on TN:
Fed Study Warned Transit Agencies of Flooding Potential (link)
Rental Cars Moved to New York Post Sandy — But It’s Not Enough (link)
Virginia to Study Traffic over Potomac River (link)

Boston bus (photo by nathanpachal via flickr)

Transit racial disparity in Boston: black workers face longer commutes to work than whites -- especially when traveling by bus. (Boston Globe)

After years of Bloomberg-era declines, the number of traffic-related fatalities in New York has suddenly spiked. Why? (New York Magazine)

Weekday PATH service to Lower Manhattan along the World Trade Center line resumed today. (New York Daily News)

And the Queens Midtown Tunnel is back to its normal traffic pattern (WNYC), while the Long Island Rail Road is running near normal service on all all of its 11 branches for the first time since Superstorm Sandy hit the region. (MTA)

Cold? What cold? The committed bike commuter laughs at winter -- and preaches the gospel of layering: "I wear a merino wool base layer. I wear ski sweaters, usually. I have a variety of weights, and then either a cycling jersey or a fleece vest or a wool vest. And then I wear a wind-breaking layer on top. And I have tights that I wear, too.” (Washington Post)

After almost a decade of debate -- and one mayoral recall election -- the groundbreaking for Troy's transit center is happening Tuesday. (Detroit Free Press)

Wyoming's DOT is looking for volunteers to report real-time traffic conditions. (KOTA/ABC)

Inside BART's expansion plans: more service, delivered more efficiently. (San Jose Mercury News)

Workers in Osaka, Japan, are almost done assembling the world-record, 57.5-foot diameter drill that will churn beneath downtown Seattle next year, to form the Highway 99 tunnel. (Seattle Times)

Why is there no safety in numbers for London's cyclists? (Guardian)

How IBM is using big data to ease your commute. (Wired)

The Lincoln Tunnel helix is getting a massive rehab -- and not a moment too soon. "There are so many craters, Buzz Aldrin would feel at home on it. The concrete median barrier is crumbling like a chocolate chip cookie." (Star-Ledger)

A post-Sandy survey ranks commuters' misery, and Staten Islanders fared the worst. Moreover: "The MTA performed brilliantly, and NJ Transit is still paying for its mistakes." (Wall Street Journal)

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Top stories on TN:
As Thanksgiving Approaches, Rental Car Companies Shift Fleets to Ease Post-Sandy Shortage (link)
Poll Captures Storm Surge Of Positive Feelings For NY MTA, Gas Rationing (link)
Staten Island To Get A Second Ferry…Briefly (link)

A seismic shaker truck rolls through Indiana State University's campus. (Tony Campbell/Courtesy of Indiana State University)

The executive director of NJ Transit is defending the agency's decision to leave trains in rail yards that ended up under water during Hurricane Sandy. (Star-Ledger)

Why New York City has a "second-tier" bus system: opposition from drivers and local businesses to street redesign.  (Capital NY)

A strike shut down the Port of Oakland on Tuesday. (Oakland Tribune)

Chevron wants to install new pipes at a California refinery, but federal experts say the metal the company has chosen failed at another refinery this year. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Advocates are trying to get traction for a large-scale bike share system in Atlanta. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels inaugurated a new stretch of I-69 by driving 40 mph over the speed limit on his motorcycle. (Indy Star)

Drivers in Republican-leaning states are more likely to die in traffic accidents, according to a new study. (The Hill)

Texas's 85-mph toll road suffered its first fatality. (MySanAntonio)

Oil and gas companies are setting up drill sites on college campuses. (NPR)

A new world sailing speed record has been set: the Vestas Sailrocket team reached more than 60 knots (about 70 miles per hour) at Walvis Bay in Namibia. (New Scientist)

Behold: sculptures made from recycled tires. (Fine Print NYC)

An elk made out of recycled tires (photo courtesy of Yong Ho Ji)

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Map of the temporary ferry terminal in Great Kills Park (image courtesy of NYC DOT)

The dream of a South Shore ferry for Staten Island will soon be a reality -- albeit a fleeting one.

To improve the post-Sandy commute for some of the hardest-hit areas of the southernmost borough, New York City is soliciting bids for temporary ferry service from Great Kills to two separate points in Manhattan. The service -- which will be made possible by FEMA funding -- is expected to be up and running by Monday, November 26th.

The existing Staten Island Ferry operates between the northern tip of the borough -- difficult to get to for residents further afield -- to the Battery in lower Manhattan, which is experiencing its own issues: the South Ferry subway station, seriously damaged during the storm surge, remains closed.

This isn't the first time the idea of a ferry on the southern tip of the island has been raised. According to a story earlier this year in the Staten Island Advance, there was a 1997 plan to operate a fast ferry between Great Kills Harbor and Manhattan, but it  "was thwarted by community opposition."

A press release from the city says the service will operate for eight weeks and will include "six trips leaving a newly-constructed landing at Great Kills between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM, bound for Pier 11 at Wall Street and continuing on to 35^th Street, and six return departures in the afternoon, between 12:00 Noon to 6:15 PM. The one-way fare will be $2.00, comparable to fares for temporary ferry routes established in the Rockaways."

Top stories on TN:
DC Airports Executives Grilled on Capitol Hill (link)
Still Unclear Why NJ Transit Took Longer to Bounce Back After Sandy (link)
The H Train Rides Again in the Rockaways (link)

Engineers are testing an inflatable plug to prevent flooding in transit tunnels. (New York Times)

California’s effort to build a high-speed rail is picking up political momentum, but even supporters wonder whether it can stay on track to meet its goal by 2029. (Stateline)

Nearly one in three motorists who use a new Maryland highway without an E-ZPass don’t pay the toll later, making the controversial ICC home to a toll violation rate four times higher than the state average. (Washington Post)

London may abolish the "greener vehicle discount" -- meaning more eco-friendly cars could have to pay congestion pricing in the future. (BBC)

Owners of plug-in electric cars are well-off, well-educated people who want to wean themselves and the nation off high-price oil, according to a pair of new reports. (USA Today via Detroit Free Press)

Why Mayor Corey Booker tweets so much: "Same reason I walk Nwk streets regularly - to connect, better do my job." (@CoryBooker)

Can't get enough of the H train? Neither can Rachel Maddow, who named it "the best new thing in the world today" on her show Monday. (Video below)

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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(For the full NYC subway map, go here.)

The H train is rolling where the A train can't.

Starting Tuesday, residents of the storm-battered Rockaway Peninsula will get a free subway shuttle known as the H train. To connect Beach 67 Street to Beach 90, the train will incorporate a piece of rarely-used track known as the Hammels Wye.

Currently, A train service to Queens terminates at Howard Beach. According to a press release issued by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the tracks over Jamaica Bay were "almost completely destroyed by the storm." Residents have been using shuttle buses to connect to mainland Queens as well as navigate the peninsula.

There are no estimates yet as to when full A train service will be back up and running.

(Note: according to the MTA, the appellation "H" is unrelated to Hammels. Shuttle service began on the Rockaways in 1956; by 1962, it was called the "HH." )

To get subway service out to the Rockaways, the MTA loaded subway cars onto flatbed trucks in Ozone Park, Queens, drove them over the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge, and lifted them back on the rails at the Rockaway Park-Beach 116 station. That work can be seen in the below video.

The H still exists on the rolls of the MTA -- as captured in the 2008 photo below.

An H train, spotted in 2008 (photo by SaikoSakura via flickr)